A method for echo processing in a pulse-echo ranging system

摘要

In a pulse-echo ranging system an energy pulse (5) is transmitted to a target (4), echo pulses (11) are received and converted into an echo signal (S) which is processed to identify an echo from said target (4) and determine the distance from the propagation time of said identified echo. The advanced stage of the processing is performed digitally.;To allow for storing as large a number of samples possible in a limited memory (10) without reducing the resolution and without complicating the processing, instead of storing and processing the echo signal (S), the first derivative of the whole echo signal (S') is stored in digital form and then processed.